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“What a mess. Now we have 19 teams so I’m curious to see what’s going to happen. We’ve planned everything for 18 teams and then the wildcard teams. We’re not ready for 19 WorldTour teams. Logistically everything has been set up for races like Tirreno and the Giro. I really don’t know how we’d have one more team in the race,”

Goes on with :

" Maybe they’ll take one team out of the WorldTour because as it stands we’ve got an agreement for 18 teams, not 19. I just don’t know. At the moment I think we have to go back to 18 teams "

They say its a mess but the answer to this mess is in the stinking story!

Let the races (ASO, RCS and <insert the Spanish acronym>) decide who races, what happened in 2007 with the ASO and le Tour actually capturing dopers instead of generating lists of suspicion and sitting on their hands (UCI).

They say its a mess but the answer to this mess is in the stinking story!

Let the races (ASO, RCS and <insert the Spanish acronym>) decide who races, what happened in 2007 with the ASO and le Tour actually capturing dopers instead of generating lists of suspicion and sitting on their hands (UCI).

Unipublic.

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Quote:

A race that doesn't give an attacker the chance to finish it off alone is not a race anymore.

Maybe teams should spread out the wt loss. Some team which cares jack **** about the giro and wanted WT only for the Tour (which applies to half of them, though maybe less so this year). can take the hit for the Giro (Saxo wont mind probably). Then someone else for the Vuelta. EE can take the hit for the cobbled classics. For the Tour just dont invite Coledeportes who should focus on the GIro anyway and have Katusha basically have that last wildcard space.

When I look at cycling today, I get the impression that history is repeating itself: riders who are supposed to be rouleurs are climbing passes at the front of the race, and those who are supposed to be climbers are riding time trials at more than 50 kilometres per hour.

They say its a mess but the answer to this mess is in the stinking story!

Let the races (ASO, RCS and <insert the Spanish acronym>) decide who races, what happened in 2007 with the ASO and le Tour actually capturing dopers instead of generating lists of suspicion and sitting on their hands (UCI).

meh, can't run serious professional teams without firm commitments about the calendar. The amateur days are long gone.

Instead UCI needs to run its ranking system in a transparent and open manner (read: redesigned system) so stakeholders can follow whats going on throughout the season without being surprised about what teams are in 1st division the following year. Having a bunch of suits in a room deciding who get to go where at the end of the season based on some subjective ideas simply drives corruption, scandals and otherwise.

Maybe teams should spread out the wt loss. Some team which cares jack **** about the giro and wanted WT only for the Tour (which applies to half of them, though maybe less so this year). can take the hit for the Giro (Saxo wont mind probably). Then someone else for the Vuelta. EE can take the hit for the cobbled classics. For the Tour just dont invite Coledeportes who should focus on the GIro anyway and have Katusha basically have that last wildcard space.

There will probably be more volunteers for the week long stage races.

Done.

Along those lines, my solution for the Giro would be for each of the 23 teams involved to submit a sealed bid which would contain the number of WT points they would gain by staying at home:- team with the lowest bid gets those points and drops out. Similar could apply for the other races

That should mean that the team with the least ambition stays at home which is good for us and also provides some compensation for the team that has been messed around

meh, can't run serious professional teams without firm commitments about the calendar. The amateur days are long gone.

Instead UCI needs to run its ranking system in a transparent and open manner (read: redesigned system) so stakeholders can follow whats going on throughout the season without being surprised about what teams are in 1st division the following year. Having a bunch of suits in a room deciding who get to go where at the end of the season based on some subjective ideas simply drives corruption, scandals and otherwise.

What, why can't you run a serious pro team with semi-solid commitments, as in if you go against the rules you are out! Don't race enough and get some quality placings, you are out!

This would only raise the bar, races want the best not just riders who train for one race a year. Why, because those riders riding the most garner the most fans. Sure winning le Tour gets a rider top billing but not if they don't qualify to ride le Tour by sitting on the bench the whole early season.